Coolant trickle from headgasket...

[Anonymous]

Hi guys, it has been a while since I have posted anything. My headgasket trickles coolant down the block along the spark plug side of the engine. It has done this ever since the first engine rebuild. At that time, the block deck was left alone and only the head was milled. Last year when I rebuilt my engine for the second time, I had both the block and the head milled. Today I was cleaning the engine and I noticed the trickle is back. What could be causing this? Any idea's how to fix it? I used Felpro gaskets on my last rebuild. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[lightnin-boy]

Did you shim your headbolts with hardened washers? Your head bolts could be bottoming out in the block...

Kirk

 

[rbohm]

8) also did you retorque the head gaskets?

 

[Anonymous]

I have about 600-700 miles on a fresh rebuild, and have noticed this as well. I didn't do the rebuild, and I don't think either the head or the deck has been milled. I would like to re-torque. what is the pattern, and the torque setting?

Bill

 

[Anonymous]

I retorqued my head gasket last night. What a pain with the montecarlo bar, I hate taking that thing off. Anyway, I doubt it will help. I retorqued the gasket on the last engine and it did not cure the problem. THen I replaced it and it still leaked

For this rebuild, I am using ARP bolts with hardened washers. The bolts are the same length as the originals.

I have the bolt pattern at home, I will try and post it tonight if nobody beats me to it.

 

[Anlushac11]

8)

Sounds like the all too common case of the head bolts bottoming out.

 

[alloydave]

common fault for leaking head gasket is adding the anti-freeze in too early or not dilluted enough. Ethylene glycol has a tracking property which
will seep thru a hole water cant get thru.on a fresh head gasket i use just
straight water and let the engine warm up and cool down for a day or two
before draining the system and add pre-mixed antifreeze dilluted to the required ratio .when premixing antifreeze a key point is what is the lowest temp is it going to be exposed to parked or in operation.over concentration of glycol can change its cooling properties.
more than half of the gaskets recieved by gaskets supplier in NZ for
evaluation of failure show clear signs of overheating.The main contributors in failure are CAVITATION CORROSION,CHEMICAL CORROSION OR CREVICE CORROSION.
Could also be time to get the block decked .

cheers dave

 

[Williboy]

I too get the drooling of coolant from the gasket. I had the blocked decked and the head slightly milled, but no washers under the bolts.

Can I reuse the old Felpro gasket and just install the washers under the bolts or should I go for a new gasket??? ( 1/2 hr job vs 2 hrs)

Will standard grade 8 7/16" washers work or do I need something else??

Thanks,,,,GLEN

 

[Anonymous]

8)

Sounds like the all too common case of the head bolts bottoming out.

I don't think these are bottoming out. I have thick washers underneath my ARP bolts which are the same length as the original bolts. I doubt my head and block were decked that much. What I don't understand is why it only leaks along the one side? I had the machinest check the block and head for cracks and warping. He milled both to be sure they were flat.

common fault for leaking head gasket is adding the anti-freeze in too early or not dilluted enough. Ethylene glycol has a tracking property which
will seep thru a hole water cant get thru.on a fresh head gasket i use just
straight water and let the engine warm up and cool down for a day or two
before draining the system and add pre-mixed antifreeze dilluted to the required ratio .when premixing antifreeze a key point is what is the lowest temp is it going to be exposed to parked or in operation.over concentration of glycol can change its cooling properties.
more than half of the gaskets recieved by gaskets supplier in NZ for
evaluation of failure show clear signs of overheating.The main contributors in failure are CAVITATION CORROSION,CHEMICAL CORROSION OR CREVICE CORROSION.
Could also be time to get the block decked .

cheers dave

Interesting Dave.... I did not know that the mixture makes that much of a difference. When I broke in my engine I used water for the first 500 miles. I did not see anything leak when I first started driving the car? I am pretty sure I have a 50/50 mix of Antifreeze and distilled water.

Could it be the headgaskets? I have used Felpro on most of my cars for years with little or no trouble with them. I am at a loss....

 

[addo]

Dave's point about MEG also raises the issue of "Chemi-Weld" and other fixes. Antifreeze will remove these from where they are doing their job, opening bore splits or head cracks again. It's the "wetting" properties of MEG that make it good to have (plus the antifreeze and anticorrosion aspects) but they can also bite you when least expected.

Adam.

 

[alloydave]

Felpro are normally one the best gaskets you can buy. Another problem with head gasket failure i forgot to mention and the easiest way for a manufacture to get out of a claim is insuficient clamping load.I have seen
a demonstration on clamping loads using a special digital load measure device. On the first test they assembled the head without cleaning the threads on bolts or threads in block without any cleaning or lube,they torqued the to the required figure the clamping load was way under what
was required by almost a 1/3.on the second test they wire brushed the threads and tapped the block threads to ensure clean, this test was still under desired clamping load but only by about a 1/4.on the third test they added oil on threads and under side of the head of bolts and washers ,this was then torqued and came up with the correct load.In the end it comes down to lost torque thru friction of the bolts in thread or underside of bolt heads .Also too much oil and the bolts sort of hydrulic in the hole and dont go down any further.Hope all goes well


cheers dave 67xr6